The mud fought me for every step, grasping and pulling at my legs, as I fled for my life.

Disclaimer: This is fiction. All the characters and events portrayed here are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely accidental and unintentional A big thanks goes out to Paula for helping proof and generally make this readable. Another big thanks goes to Cathy who pre-read this. Any remaining errors, or mistakes are mine! Enjoy!

The mud fought me for every step, grasping and pulling at my legs, as I fled for my life. My control of my misshapen lumbering body with its asymmetrical limbs was still poor. It was as if very elements themselves found me an abomination, as the looming storm threw its chilling winds in my face, slowing my escape from those behind me who were seeking my death.

Struggling to keep my elevated boot from being taken from me by the ooze, I spared a glance in the darkening gloom behind me. Though the trees I could see the flickers of lights and hear the baying of the hounds. Flashes of lightning gave the approaching willow-wisps the forms of men. I had to have the elevated boot for one leg. Without it to make my mismatched legs somewhat the same length, I would hardly have been able to walk at all. Freeing the boot from the muck, I continue my flight for my life.

I’d hoped that the oncoming storm along with the falling of night would give me time to escape. It was plain to see it was a fool’s gambit. As much as my very soul cried in pain over its imprisonment within this flesh, I could not throw myself upon my pursuer’s metaphorical pitchforks and scythes. No matter my torment, I still fought to live.

Now the element of water assailed me as the first icy fists of rain struck me. Desperately, I searched for something, anything for shelter. With the ground already so muddy, this rain would rapidly turn all this into a quagmire, and slow me even more.

The lightning flashes from the storm about me revealed a tall windmill upon the rise. Shelter it might offer, but little hope. Even the irrational mob behind me would guess where I’d taken shelter, but there was no other choice.

Fighting three of the four elements, earth, wind, and water, I climbed towards my only chance of survival. Any likelihood that this assault by nature would deter the mob from its bloodlust were lost as I heard their shouts and the barks of the hounds coming closer.

Bent over, exhausted by my battle against nature itself, I grasped the stair’s railing as the vanes above me hummed, driven by the storm’s fury. Sudden angry yells gave me the strength of desperation to throw myself at the door. Even though locked and barred, it shattered as I threw myself against it.

Breathing in great grasps, I knew not what to do next. I’d trapped myself. Wearily I looked at the door lying ripped off its hinges. One thing this hulk of mine didn’t lack, was power and size. If I’d the energy to laugh I would’ve. Leave it to a man to decide that such was of importance over aesthetics.

From the moment of my re-awakening full of confusion and angst, it’d been man who’d tormented me. To that mad Doctor and his assistant, to the very body I was trapped within, it was the male of the species that was the cause of my pain and anguish.

Outside, the mob raged as they planned my demise. I could little blame them. After I’d escaped from that dungeon, I’d fled, still confused and befuddled about who and what I was. It’d been playing with that little girl that had unlocked her memories. Unable to stand the pain realization brought with it, I’d thrown the girl from me. Truly, I hoped she was unharmed.

Not so for the monster who’d revived me, revived her. No! He could burn in the deepest darkest hell, for all eternity!

A crash and roar brought me back to my present grim circumstances. Even as the smell of smoke brought back that stabbing fear, an ironic sarcastic laugh tore though me. Fire. Of course it’d be fire. The last of the four elements come to finally end this unwanted second life just as it ended her first. Now those memories had returned the full horrors of being burned alive!

Panic filled my heart. Not again! Oh please dear Lord, not again! Thrashing around, I spied a door set in the floor. Throwing it open …

Insurance investigator James Fisher kicked at the debris from the burned wind turbine. The damn things were expensive, and the owners bloody well wanted to know how it’d caught fire. As things stood, he didn’t think they ever would know the whole story.

The folks of the small town were being very closed mouthed about what had happened. Several people, one of them a child, had reported being assaulted by some disfigured stranger. The local law were also investigating a murder of a doctor that worked for one those stem cell research labs, that might be related.

Like most in his profession, James Fisher had started off as a police detective, and the way the locals were handling the case set his instincts on edge. It was as if they were just doing it for form’s sake, knowing it didn’t really matter. Just as strange was the reaction of the company the scientist had worked for. He’d expect them to be demanding action for a case so ignored, but instead, nothing.

The only interest in the whole affair was that of the turbine’s owners, and the insurance company that’d sent him here wondering what had happened to their 2 million dollar piece of equipment. Suspicious, he’d combed the ruins, half expecting to found a corpse or evidence one had been removed, but had come up empty.

He’d even checked the underground ducting linking this tower with others on its network. Although James had found signs that something had been crawling around down there, he’d discovered nothing conclusive.

What he’d found would make his employers happy, since clearly the building had been broken into and had deliberately been set ablaze. This hadn’t been any sort of accident, but there weren’t any of the usual signs of fraud. It was more like everyone just wanted to forget the whole thing, and damn to what it cost.

Sighing, he started to walked away, but stopped when he thought he heard something. Listening carefully, he looked around but saw nothing. Shrugging his shoulders James trudged back to his rental car. After all, who would be crying out all the way out here.